Number-printing apparatus for printing machinery



13, 1936. Y J. MAGG 2,057,620

NUMBER PRINTING APPARATUS FOR PRINTING MACHINERY Filed July 14, 1934 Jnven/or-Q f r- @Zf) Patented Oct. 13, 1936 UNlTED STATES NUMBER-PRINTING APPARATUS FOR PRINTING MACHINERY Joseph Magg, Zurich, Switzerland Application July 14, 1934, Serial No. 735,191

In GermanyFebruary 19, 1934 2 Claims, (o1. 101- ss Number-printing apparatuses for printing machinery with sinkable ciphers are well known. In order to be able to depress the ciphers they are arranged adjustably in the numberingwheels in a radial direction. The shaft on which the numbering-wheels are seated must have a groove into which a 'cog on the inner side of the ciphers can engage when-the ciphers are sunk.

When the numbering wheel is further switched this cog is pressed out of the groove and the cipher involved raised from its depressed position. It is, however, now necessary for the groove always to remain in the same position. For this purpose the shaft must be attached by K5 screws or pins, which makes the demounting of the apparatus considerably more diflicult.

Now it is desirable that the units ratchet wheel at least, which determines whether the numbering apparatus is to be shifted forward after single, double or more printing can easily be exchanged as very frequently it is gone over from one kind of printing to another. This was done by placing the numbering and ratchet wheels not on the shaft itself, but on a socket which on its part was on the shaft in the housing of the numbering apparatus, on which shaft the groove for the sinkable ciphers was present. This socket had naturally to be secured from rotation by a setscrew or the like. The shaft itself is thereby axially adjustable, and after its removal the socket with the numbering and ratchet Wheels can be taken out of the housing. The disadvantage of this design is that the shaft, the space at disposal being very narrowly restricted, becomes very thin, and troubles frequently arise because the shaft is not equal in the long run to the heavy demands made on it by printing.

The object of the present invention is an improvement in such number-printing apparatuses which does away with these disadvantages.

It consists in securing the shaft against rotary displacement by a fiat surface which is guided in a corresponding surface on the sleeve attached to the side of the housing opposite the units ratchet wheel. This shaft is axially adjustable to the one side for exchanging the units ratchet wheel so far till the end of the surface arrives on the shaft to the sleeve in the side wall of the housing, and on the other for completely clearing the numbering apparatus unrestrictedly till its complete removal. As no socket is required the shaft can be made very strong so as to be able to stand all the demands made on it. With this improvement the units ratchet wheel can be exchanged without any further demounting of the numeration apparatus or loosening of a set-screw or the like. The pawls for the ratchet wheel or for demounting the numbering apparatus are deflected by an ingenious manipulation in the simplest manner. This improvement according to the invention can of course also be applied to number-printing apparatus with fixed ciphers.

The drawing shows an exemplary type of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of an apparatus according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 1-1 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view of A in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a side view of the shaft, and

Fig. 5 is an end view of the shaft.

A shaft I is situated in the housing of a number printing apparatus on which numbering wheels 2 are seated with counter-sinking ciphers and the proper ratchet wheel 3. The movement of the ratchet wheels 3 is effected in known manner by means of a plunger I'I on whose side is provided a journal I8 which engages a slot I9 of a bridle 2B. In the latter are mounted the switch levers for the ratchet wheels 3. The ciphers of the ratchet wheels 3 are radially arranged in the numbering wheels 2 and have cogs 4. In the shaft I there is a groove 5 into which the cogs 4 of the ciphers can enter. The shaft I has further a fiat surface 6 on one side and on the side Wall 8 of the housing opposite the units ratchet Wheel is a corresponding aperture, 1. The shaft I can therefore not rotate, but can be adjusted axially. This possibility of axial displacement is unlimited towards the side opposite the flat surface 6. Towards the side on which the surface 6 is situated the shaft I can be pushed so far that the end of the fiat surface 6 enters the surface I in the side of the housing, as shown by the dotted line on Fig. 1. The length of the surface is so dimensioned that the shaft I can be thrust to its side so as to enable clearance of the units ratchet wheel and numbering wheel of the apparatus from the opposite end of the shaft, I. This units ratchet wheel and the numbering wheel can then be exchanged without trouble. As the shaft I requires no fixed socket it can be made strong enough to stand the greatest strain. No set-screw or the like is required for exchanging of the other numbering or ratchet wheels.

For demounting the apparatus or exchanging the units ratchet wheel the detent pawls acting on the ratchet wheels 3 must be cleared. These pawls are double-armed levers Ill, carried in an axis II in the housing. The one end of these levers Ill carries the clutches for the ratchet wheels, and the springs I2 act on the other end. The springs l2 are in a bore l3 at the base of the housing of the numbering apparatus. The ends of the levers I move in guide slits I4 in the bores l3. A further bore l5 transverse to bores I3 is on the base of the housing into which a pin I6 can be introduced after deflecting the levers Ill by hand, which pin then holds the levers in their deflected position. As the pin I6 is supported between two bores each at the base of the housing it cannot be deflected, as was often the case in the known constructions, in I which the middle detent pawls were not fully deflected, which made demounting difiicult. The arrangement according to the invention guarantees a sure and simple deflection of thepawls by which the demounting of the apparatus is greatly facilitated.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and-in what manner the same is to be performed, what I claim is:--

1. In a number-printing apparatus of the kind described consisting of a housing, a set of numbering and ratchet wheels, switch and detent levers for these ratchet wheels and means of actuating the ratchet mechanism, a shaft carried in the housing which bears the numbering and ratchet wheels, having a flat surface thereon in the end in the housing opposite the units ratchet wheel, the corresponding end of the housing being provided with an aperture receiving the shaft and having a corresponding flattened surface, the flattened surface on the shaft extending along the shaft a distance greater than the thickness of the housing, whereby the shaft is capable of axial adjustment but is held against rotation.

2. In a number-printing apparatus of the kind described consisting of a housing, a set of numbering and ratchet wheels, switch and detent levers for these ratchet wheels and means of actuating the ratchet mechanism, a shaft carried in the housing which bears the numbering and ratchet wheels, having a flat surface thereon in the end in the housing opposite the units ratchet wheel, thecorresponding end of the housing being provided with an aperture receiving the shaft and having a corresponding flattened surface, the flattened surface on the shaft extending along the shaft a distance greater than the thickness of the housing, whereby the shaft is capable of axial adjustment but is held against rotation, bores in the housing taking up springs, slits through these bores in which the ends of the levers for the ratchet wheels glide, a bore in the base of the housing transversing the aforementioned bores and a pin for inserting in said bores for deflecting the levers.

JOSEPH MAGG. 

